Page 78 of A Distant Shore
Eliza hadn’t even remembered the rings.
“Yes.” Jack grinned at her. “We have rings.” He pulled them from his pants pocket and handed his to Lizzie.
“You bought rings?”
“The week after I said goodbye to you in Cancún.” Tears glistened in his eyes, but his smile kept them from falling. “I’ve carried them with me ever since.”
Her ring held a stunning center diamond, as pure and brilliant and bright as their future. It glistened in the Belizean sun with small diamonds on either side of the larger one. Jack slipped it onto her finger… and it fit her perfectly. Like the two of them.
Next she put a simple gold band on his ring finger. “Jack,” she whispered, “the rings are beautiful.” She leaned closer and put her hand to the necklace he had given her on the beach in Mexico. The one she had worn every day since. “You kept your promise. You waited for me.”
“Every day, Lizzie. Every day.” He looked like he’d forgotten anyone else was there.
A chuckle came from the pastor. “I have a feeling this one’s going to last.” He looked from Jack to Eliza and back again. “By the power of the government of Belize, it is my privilege to pronounce you husband and wife.” He smiled. “Jonathan, you may kiss your bride.”
Jack worked his hands into her hair. Then he drew her into his arms. His kiss took her breath and she felt like she might float away. Because this wasn’t pretend. It wasn’t a mission or an act or part of a job they had to do.
It was forever.
Jack stepped back and smiled at her. “I can’t believe it.”
“Me, either.” Eliza kissed him this time, and a chorus of soft laughter came from the front row. She barely noticed. She was Jack’s wife now, and truly nothing but death could ever separate them.
When it was over, when she had Jack on one side and her mother and brother on the other, Eliza realized she had no idea where they were going to live or what life looked like moving forward. But it didn’t matter.
God had given her everything she ever needed. Right here.
In this single moment.
Seven Years LaterCHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Surely, goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
—Psalm 23:6
Jack pulled out of the parking lot of the University of North Carolina’s Wilmington campus and turned left toward the interstate. He was teaching five classes in criminal justice this semester and school would be out in two weeks.
But today was a celebration all its own.
He had already changed into his Little Sluggers T-shirt and as he drove he grabbed his baseball cap from the passenger seat. Today was Luke’s first T-ball game and Jack needed to be there early.
After all, he was the coach.
The field wasn’t far, halfway between the school and home. Jack’s parents had left him a fortune—money henever thought he’d want or need. But it had given him the chance to give Eliza a very special gift.
A house on a bluff, overlooking the beach. It was the view they woke up to every morning, wrapped in each other’s arms. Jack smiled. He was more in love with Eliza every day. Like the honeymoon they’d taken in Belize had never really ended.
He pulled in to the ball field twenty minutes early, but he could see that his family was already there. Eliza and their two kids—Luke and Masey. Eliza’s mother, and Daniel and his wife, along with their two little boys. Jack still couldn’t believe they all lived here, five minutes from each other in Wilmington.
Daniel had become Jack’s best friend—next to Eliza of course. The two couples got together at least once a week and they took all the kids to the beach every Sunday afternoon.
Jack smiled as he approached the group. Eliza and her mother sat next to each other. For the past five years, the two had worked together running six safe homes in major cities along the East Coast. Rosa and Maggie from the Palace volunteered at one of them.
Eliza had used her own money to buy the first one. Just like she had dreamed.
“Daddy!” His little boy came running up. “Guess what?”
“What, buddy?” Jack set the gear bag down on the bleachers and hugged his son.
